2008 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster

Usually, automakers debut important or exciting new cars at a major auto show, all the better to drum up consumer interest, my dear. We expected the same to be true of Mercedes-Benz's upcoming SLR McLaren roadster.

'Twas not to be, however. Just as the day was winding down and we were rinsing our coffee mugs after another productive day, Outlook perked up with this little tidbit: the first official photos and information on the SLR McLaren roadster.

When we were all partying like it was 1999 (because it was), Mercedes-Benz teased us with not one, but two mouth-watering Vision SLR supercar concepts. One had a roof, the other was a convertible. The Vision SLR coupe eventually became the stupidly fast and stratospherically priced SLR McLaren coupe, which Mercedes-Benz builds with racing partner McLaren Cars.

Now, four years into its product cycle, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren are finally giving their SLR coupe a droptop playmate, to be called the SLR McLaren roadster, and slated for sale this fall.

The just-revealed roadster, built at McLaren's Formula 1 factory in Woking, England, will spawn one of only a handful of droptops ever to break the 200-mph barrier. It could prove to be the fastest open-topped automobile ever sold in this country by a major manufacturer when it appears on our shores as a 2008 model.

The SLR roadster will be pretty much identical to the current SLR McLaren coupe in terms of its lovely long-nose proportions and front and rear styling. It will also share the hardtop's carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, carbon-fiber body panels, and cool butterfly doors. A semiautomatic fabric top (opens in fewer than 10 seconds), as opposed to a heavier retractable hardtop, will be fitted in the interest of cost saving.

Good thing, because we figure a premium of about 10 percent over the coupe's $455,750 starting price. Although we can swing $499,000, once we crest that half-million mark, the missis is going to start nagging about dipping into the kids' college fund.

Expect little or no diminution of performance from the 617-hp, 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 with 575 pound-feet of torque that powers the SLR hardtop. Mercedes is claiming a 0-to-60 time of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 207 mph for the roadster, with an AMG Speedshift R five-speed automatic transmission.

The carmaker also promises the ability to converse at speeds above 120 mph with the top down, courtesy of its "aeroacoustics." We imagine such conversations starting with "yeah, baby" and ending with "hope that wasn't a speed trap."

As appropriate as it would be to offer the roadster in the intensified 641-hp "722" guise—considering the original 1955 Mercedes-Benz SLR racer that Stirling Moss drove to victory in the Mille Miglia three consecutive years was actually a roadster—Mercedes disclosed no such plans.